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It came awake in the warmth, flooded with a rush of love for the mother that surrounded it. Then there was a rush of movement, and cold — cold stone against its wet flesh, and air, such cool air, chilling it. It lifted what it now knew to be its head, and staggered up on what it now knew to be its limbs. It wanted to croon its love to its mother, but knew that was not why it had been born; already it shared in the rest of the brood’s anger and hate for the horrible furred things that had come to kill their beloved mother.
It wailed a long chittering sound, and lunged for the nearest intruder. The hate felt good.
It felt like love.
Background: The word “Mother” is a tremendous euphemism used to describe the Aharnuz. Not really female at all, the Mother is the only one of its kind. It is defined by its ability to give birth, yet it cannot give birth to another of its species — each of its spawn is different. The Mother is, thankfully, the only one of its kind.
Or so the Uratha hope.
The Aharnuz is essentially parthenogenetic; it does not require fertilization to give birth to a new spawn. However, it may profit from incorporating new genetic information into its being, whether that comes from devouring a creature to absorb its genetic data as it digests or from a wholly obscene coupling. The unending variety of its spawn, which seem to take a different form with every birth, may easily be attributed to the Mother’s penchant for absorbing as many other creatures as it can.
The Mother communicates through its empathic ability. It does not speak or understand any language in particular, even the First Tongue, but is capable of analyzing emotional states so efficiently that it can glean a surprising amount of understanding. Even if it doesn’t know what the words mean, it can glean the general context from the rush of emotions it perceives. It may attempt to communicate with its enemies in turn, but its attempts to do so are often too alien for anyone to process.
Description: The Mother is a massive bulk, bloated but not to the point of immobility. It is supported by four long limbs that act partly as legs and partly as arms; it walks on all fours, but can manipulate objects with its “fingers” while squatting. Its mouth is on the top of its bulk, surrounded by dim pinpricks that serve as sensory organs, and below is its birthing tube. Its skin is naturally dry, but is often flecked with saliva or birth secretions.
Storytelling Hints: The Mother is the embodiment of fecundity gone wrong — the desire to propagate swollen to monstrous proportions. It does not need its children, and it does not love its children. It simply needs to spawn more and more. Thus, the threat it poses lies not in its own physical or supernatural capability, but in its ability to create spawn. It is never found alone, and a pack seeking to kill the Mother must fight through a small army of spawn in order to reach the horror.
The Mother breeds irresponsibly as well, so its less favored offspring might trickle out into the world to cause a host of other problems. It is very fortunate, then, that the spawn are all sterile. The very fertility that birthed them is not an inherited trait, and Uratha who successfully hunt them down eliminate them as a danger for good.
This may not be the case for long. If the Mother ever perfects its ability so that it can create fertile creatures, the world is in dire trouble.
[For more information on Aharnuz, see p. 181 of Predators]
Aharnuz, The Mother
Potency - ooooo
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 5
Physical Attributes: Strength 7, Dexterity 3, Stamina 9
Social Attributes: Presence 6, Manipulation 3, Composure 5
Mental Skills: Medicine 2, Occult 3
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 4, Stealth 1, Survival 3
Social Skills: Animal Ken 1, Empathy 6, Expression 1, Intimidate 3, Subterfuge 1
Merits: Danger Sense, Direction Sense, Hardy 3, Iron Stamina 3
Dread Powers: Armored Hide 2, Brood Empathy, Create Spawn, Devourer, Natural Weaponry (Bite) 3, Regeneration
Health: 26
Willpower: 10
Initiative: 8
Defense: 5
Speed: 17 (Species Factor 7)
Size: 11
New Dread Powers
• Brood Empathy: The Mother is in constant empathic communication with all sspawn that remain within 200 yards of it. Unlike communication with outsiders, the Mother and its spawn instinctively understand one another, and can communicate as effectively as if they were using language. The empathic presence of their Mother also gives the brood extra confidence. Any spawn that can still feel the Aharnuz’s empathic presence nearby has its Resolve and Composure traits increased by 2.
• Create Spawn: The Mother can birth a new spawn as an instant action with the expenditure of a Willpower point. The newborn spawn takes one turn to get its bearings, and then can begin attacking its Mother’s assailants or otherwise carrying out its progenitor’s will. Newborn spawn are of course the weakest of the brood, and should be given appropriate statistics.
• Devourer: To the Mother, everything is just raw material to be shoveled into its hungry maw. Whenever it inflicts damage to a living creature in a grapple, it regains 1 point of Willpower per point of damage inflicted and heals one point of Health.
• Regeneration: The Mother is considered to be a werewolf of Primal Urge 5 for the purpose of this Dread Power.
Notes:
• The Mother communicates by receiving and broadcasting emotions. It can effectively sense the emotions of anyone within 100 yards, and can “read” a specific person’s emotions in more detail as easily as a person observes another person’s clothing. It may attempt to broadcast its own emotions as a means of communication. Actively sifting through these emotions to understand the gist of what the Mother is attempting to “say” requires a Composure + Empathy roll. Success establishes some measure of context (“It wants us to leave”), and exceptional success provides greater context (“It recognizes us as old enemies but doesn’t want to fight us yet”).
It wailed a long chittering sound, and lunged for the nearest intruder. The hate felt good.
It felt like love.
Background: The word “Mother” is a tremendous euphemism used to describe the Aharnuz. Not really female at all, the Mother is the only one of its kind. It is defined by its ability to give birth, yet it cannot give birth to another of its species — each of its spawn is different. The Mother is, thankfully, the only one of its kind.
Or so the Uratha hope.
The Aharnuz is essentially parthenogenetic; it does not require fertilization to give birth to a new spawn. However, it may profit from incorporating new genetic information into its being, whether that comes from devouring a creature to absorb its genetic data as it digests or from a wholly obscene coupling. The unending variety of its spawn, which seem to take a different form with every birth, may easily be attributed to the Mother’s penchant for absorbing as many other creatures as it can.
The Mother communicates through its empathic ability. It does not speak or understand any language in particular, even the First Tongue, but is capable of analyzing emotional states so efficiently that it can glean a surprising amount of understanding. Even if it doesn’t know what the words mean, it can glean the general context from the rush of emotions it perceives. It may attempt to communicate with its enemies in turn, but its attempts to do so are often too alien for anyone to process.
Description: The Mother is a massive bulk, bloated but not to the point of immobility. It is supported by four long limbs that act partly as legs and partly as arms; it walks on all fours, but can manipulate objects with its “fingers” while squatting. Its mouth is on the top of its bulk, surrounded by dim pinpricks that serve as sensory organs, and below is its birthing tube. Its skin is naturally dry, but is often flecked with saliva or birth secretions.
Storytelling Hints: The Mother is the embodiment of fecundity gone wrong — the desire to propagate swollen to monstrous proportions. It does not need its children, and it does not love its children. It simply needs to spawn more and more. Thus, the threat it poses lies not in its own physical or supernatural capability, but in its ability to create spawn. It is never found alone, and a pack seeking to kill the Mother must fight through a small army of spawn in order to reach the horror.
The Mother breeds irresponsibly as well, so its less favored offspring might trickle out into the world to cause a host of other problems. It is very fortunate, then, that the spawn are all sterile. The very fertility that birthed them is not an inherited trait, and Uratha who successfully hunt them down eliminate them as a danger for good.
This may not be the case for long. If the Mother ever perfects its ability so that it can create fertile creatures, the world is in dire trouble.
[For more information on Aharnuz, see p. 181 of Predators]
Aharnuz, The Mother
Potency - ooooo
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 5
Physical Attributes: Strength 7, Dexterity 3, Stamina 9
Social Attributes: Presence 6, Manipulation 3, Composure 5
Mental Skills: Medicine 2, Occult 3
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 4, Stealth 1, Survival 3
Social Skills: Animal Ken 1, Empathy 6, Expression 1, Intimidate 3, Subterfuge 1
Merits: Danger Sense, Direction Sense, Hardy 3, Iron Stamina 3
Dread Powers: Armored Hide 2, Brood Empathy, Create Spawn, Devourer, Natural Weaponry (Bite) 3, Regeneration
Health: 26
Willpower: 10
Initiative: 8
Defense: 5
Speed: 17 (Species Factor 7)
Size: 11
New Dread Powers
• Brood Empathy: The Mother is in constant empathic communication with all sspawn that remain within 200 yards of it. Unlike communication with outsiders, the Mother and its spawn instinctively understand one another, and can communicate as effectively as if they were using language. The empathic presence of their Mother also gives the brood extra confidence. Any spawn that can still feel the Aharnuz’s empathic presence nearby has its Resolve and Composure traits increased by 2.
• Create Spawn: The Mother can birth a new spawn as an instant action with the expenditure of a Willpower point. The newborn spawn takes one turn to get its bearings, and then can begin attacking its Mother’s assailants or otherwise carrying out its progenitor’s will. Newborn spawn are of course the weakest of the brood, and should be given appropriate statistics.
• Devourer: To the Mother, everything is just raw material to be shoveled into its hungry maw. Whenever it inflicts damage to a living creature in a grapple, it regains 1 point of Willpower per point of damage inflicted and heals one point of Health.
• Regeneration: The Mother is considered to be a werewolf of Primal Urge 5 for the purpose of this Dread Power.
Notes:
• The Mother communicates by receiving and broadcasting emotions. It can effectively sense the emotions of anyone within 100 yards, and can “read” a specific person’s emotions in more detail as easily as a person observes another person’s clothing. It may attempt to broadcast its own emotions as a means of communication. Actively sifting through these emotions to understand the gist of what the Mother is attempting to “say” requires a Composure + Empathy roll. Success establishes some measure of context (“It wants us to leave”), and exceptional success provides greater context (“It recognizes us as old enemies but doesn’t want to fight us yet”).
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